First Derivative [65]
first Derivative [65]
July 27, 2018
Happy Friday everyone! This week's issue has two thematic groupings with some miscellaneous articles. If you're limited in time, I recommend the pieces by Reichenbach, Siegel, and Friedersdorf. Also, one of the items this week is a podcast interview with a hedge fund guy that is a really great listen if you have any interest in value investing, social media companies, the media/telecom industry. I found it insightful. He's also a good account (pseudonymous) to follow on Twitter.
As always, feel free to email (just reply) if you have any questions or thoughts on the pieces.—TK
SpaceX’s Secret Weapon Is Gwynne Shotwell
by Max Chafkin and Dana Hull (Bloomberg)
Some good space articles in the space-themed Bloomberg Businessweek issue this week—TK
Irving Babbitt: The Primary Human Conflict Is in the Soul of the Individual
by Amanda Reichenbach (NR)
Whatever Happened to Moral Rigor?
by Lee Siegel (NYT)
"The representative figure of our age is not the poet, the artist, the novelist, the scientist, the businessman, the actor, the athlete, the statesman. It is the prosecutor. There exists a kind of silent censoring of any attempt to understand a person’s ugly behavior rather than seeking exclusively to punish it."
Suicides Have Increased. Is This an Existential Crisis?
by Clay Routledge (NYT)
Value Is Dead, Long Live Value
(Invest Like the Best) [podcast]
All the Infrastructure a Tyrant Would Need, Courtesy of Bush and Obama
by Conor Friedersdorf (Atlantic)
"Take that paradigm, add another successful 9/11-style attack, even after many years of very little terrorism, and who knows what would happen?" A prescient piece from 2013 by Conor Friedersdorf raising the alarm about the excesses of executive power that have indeed become more dangerous precedent under the current administration. And a reminder of why process and law matters, one we should remember after #45—TK
‘Studies in Power’: An Interview with Robert Caro
by Claudia Dreifus (NYRB)
A short little interview with master biographer and historian, Robert Caro. If you have the time, I recommend picking up one of his books. I've only read the first volume of his five-volume biography of LBJ so far but it was incredible.—TK
What if You Owned a Beach but Weren’t Allowed to Get to It?
by Kathleen Sharp (NYT)
I think this case is a good encapsulation of some of our larger problems, a symptom of our currently poor civic society.—TK
Elizabeth Holmes’ Downfall Has Been Explained Deeply—By Men
by Virginia Heffernan (WIRED)
George Soros Bet Big on Liberal Democracy. Now He Fears He Is Losing
by Michael Steinberger (NYT)
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ABOUT fD
fD is a newsletter on what I think matters. I highlight signals, insights, and deep trends in ideas, technology, politics, economics, foreign affairs, culture, philosophy, and more. My goal is to give you content that will still matter beyond the present moment.
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EPHEMERA
Watching Season 5 of The Americans. Great show, I recommend it. Also saw Sorry to Bother You in theaters. Very bizarre but it might be one of my favorite movies of this year.